The present invention relates generally to the field of building materials for the construction of buildings. More specifically, the present invention relates to building materials that also act as a display and allow light to enter a building.
Most of the billboard size displays are used along busy highways. Large LCD display panels installed on the walls of buildings are now used for advertisement in cities. These large LCD panels are quite expensive to install and maintain, while also consuming large amounts of electric energy during operation. There are large populations living and working in major cities with many large tall buildings. The walls and ceilings of buildings are usually constructed by using opaque materials and windows. Illumination of the outside and inside of the building and heating/cooling of the building are necessary functions for people working and living at the building.
Saving energy is a very important task worldwide recently due to rapidly increasing greenhouse gas emissions in every day human activity. If a way of saving energy during illumination and heating/cooling of buildings can be found, then it would contribute to slowing down the deterioration of environment by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Radiation from the sun is an abundant energy source available to us all year long. It would be a significant achievement to find ways of utilizing sun light for the display and illumination as a part of buildings.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a multi-functional structure as part of a building for display purposes and for illumination purposes.